Lucy's Surname
by parodized
Summary: How can a name like hers be so perfect? Heartphilia –she loved the way it rolled from her tongue. But like all romantically involved girls in the world, there will come a time when she will have to give up that name she once held dear to her heart.


It was Sunday. It was also the second Sunday since Natsu started avoiding her.

Lucy sat quietly on her bed, fidgeting her hands to ease the anxiety she'd been feeling for some time now. Natsu had been gone for almost two weeks, not counting the small hours he'd been at the guild to pick up another mission. She didn't know where he was, what job he went to, or when he'd be back. Asking Mira was also out of the question since the take-over mage would only smile sweetly at her and say that she didn't know where Natsu would go –which were lies of course. She was the one tasked to log in every mission each guild member took. But as a mage who'd been in this guild for a very long time, she knew better than to press answers from Mira.

The celestial mage thought that maybe he was preparing for the S-Class Trial Exam this year since Juvia gave both him and Gray a crushing defeat on the previous exam, but she quickly dismissed the thought when she realized that it was still mid-June. Usually, he'd be hell bent on procrastinating by taking missions on the last month before the exams.

The thought of him cheating on her passed by her mind but Lucy violently shook the thought out of her head since Natsu would never _ever __**ever**_do that to her –he took an oath. And besides, he already marked her as his mate [no matter how weird that sounded to her ears]. They'd done it and that's that.

But his recent behavior really had her worrying about him. Had she done something wrong that he'd spend most of his time outside doing missions? Without her? Before this whole thing started, Natsu went out on a mission without her only once –and that was because the mission was _too dangerous _for her. So it was a no brainer especially for someone like her that he'd been out on life threatening missions right now. But why? And why hasn't he said anything to her about it?

One time, it was a week ago, she caught him looking at the mission board. She didn't suspect anything yet during that time. She came to him and they greeted each other with a kiss, and Lucy asked what mission he was taking. Natsu said nothing and casually plucked a paper out from the board and shoved it quickly in his vest and strode to Mira's place in the bar before coming back to kiss her goodbye and left the building. This left her dumbfounded of course. Why didn't he answer the question? It was only a simple question. He hid the mission too fast but Lucy saw how much the mission was worth.

400,000 Jewel_s _–_that much._

And that was only the second time he took a mission.

Aside from that, there was another disturbing fact that Lucy couldn't quite put her mind on. _Natsu wasn't on the news_; no fires, no explosions, no destroyed towns. There wasn't anything on the news that would say where he was –he didn't leave any mark; which of course worried her. That would mean no money spent on destroyed property –full payment.

If he took home 400,000 jewels from that mission, how much more would he have now?

Why did he even need it? Where would he use it on? For who/what, will he spend it on? These are the questions that plagued Lucy's mind daily, never leaving her, never giving her a break. And it was all Natsu's fault for leaving her out of the loop.

It's not that she was poking her nose into his business (which was seriously his business since taking mission and doing it in return for money were, in a way, a form of business), but she was his girlfriend, mate, partner, _life partner, _and that gave a right, no matter how small to know. Right?

Lucy sighed and laid her back on her bed, already feeling the threat of an incoming headache. She brought up and arm to her face and covered her eyes. She took solace in the silence, finding it completely odd to relax when she'd spent the past hours worrying herself to death about Natsu's unknown whereabouts. But she welcomed the feeling, relishing in the tranquility the silence offered her.

But the nagging feeling of worry managed to creep into her mind once again, the same feeling of restlessness she felt the past week attacking her, and Lucy suddenly found herself jumping out of her bed and pacing back and forth, occasionally having staring contests with her wall clock. If there was anyone who just so happened to walk in on her right now, they'd probably think that the young girl has lost it.

She kept waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting, until she fell asleep.

* * *

The soft rustle of her sheets stirred the young mage awake from her sleep. Tired, she turned to her side where the sound came from, her eyes still closed, and felt the space before her. In her slight consciousness, Lucy's bows twitched in confusion when her palms felt something warm under her touch.

What?

Her hands trailed the warm surface, slender fingers moving upward, twitching when she realized that it wasn't a flat surface.

"Hmm…" a voice sighed beside her –an all too familiar voice.

A voice she'd missed the past weeks. Dark brown eyes opened in the dark and landed on the sleeping figure sprawled next to her on her bed, his tanned arms crossed behind his head and his left leg dangling unsteadily at the edge of the mattress.

A smile managed to crawl on her lips.

"Natsu…"

The fire mage was sleeping peacefully, unaware of his partner's sudden wake. A small breeze blew inside Lucy's window and his nose scrunched up in response. He rolled over to his side, one arm leaving his head and grabbed the blonde's body, pressing her near him.

She welcomed his warmth with open arms.

Lucy, now fully awake, snaked her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, their faces only a centimeters apart, his hot breath fanning over her skin. She closed her eyes, inhaling his scent deeply and buried her head in his neck, murmuring a _welcome home _in his skin. The celestial mage stiffened in surprise, her head snapping to the arm that was now moving upward from her waist to her shoulders. She looked back at the sleeping man and smiled, her eyes filled with happiness when she saw emerald orbs looking back at her.

"Hey." She greeted him.

"Hey." He said back, his voice rough from waking up, "You're up."

"Well, let's just say someone broke into my house and made himself at home in my bed."

A smile grazed his lips as he pulled her closer, closing any gap between them. "What a guy. Barging into your house—"

"Where did you go?" She immediately asked him, suddenly remembering the days that passed by in silence, his absence leaving a heavy sense of anxiety inside her. A single hand cradled his cheek and Natsu leaned in, accepting the gesture.

"Somewhere."

"Somewhere where?"

"Lucy…"

"Natsu."

"Tomorrow," he told her, "Tomorrow." He promised, kissing her on the forehead before falling back asleep, leaving Lucy no room for arguments. The blonde sighed, shaking her head in defeat –leave it to Natsu to escape by sleeping. She curled up next to him, letting sleep consume her once again.

* * *

Morning came in the form of sunlight passing through her curtains, illuminating the room. Lucy's eyes fluttered open, brown orbs blinking rapidly to adjust to the sudden shift in brightness that greeted her. A groan passed her lips as Lucy rolled to her side, her hands unconsciously circling around Natsu waist, only to find air and empty space.

"Natsu?" She asked no one in particular. The blonde shot up from her bed, her eyes wide in surprise as she looked around the room for any pink-haired mage, only to find none. She frowned.

The muffled sound of metals pots and pans, a crash followed by a loud curse, reached her ears and Lucy found herself calming down, for rigid form melting –she wasn't just thinking things last night.

She left the bed, not bothering to change into her morning clothes, or even taking a bath for that matter. She just wanted to see Natsu _again._ Pale hands pushed the door open and Lucy stepped out of her room, her feet mechanically taking her to the kitchen where she was sure Natsu was making colossal mess right now.

She was right.

In the middle of her messy kitchen stood a frustrated Natsu, a bowl of batter tucked between his arms as he leaned over a recipe book, his eyes glaring intently at the page, a splotch of chocolate syrup mixing with his pink hair.

"Cup … cup…" she heard him mutter. She giggled when he picked up a mug and looked back at the book, as if asking if he picked up the right thing. He shook his head and placed it back on her counter, his shoulders slumped and a look of defeat plastered on his face.

"No, no—"

"Natsu?" she called him, deciding her kitchen has faced enough torment for one morning. She cocked her head when she saw his form stiffen when she called. She set it aside, it was natural to be surprised when you're too caught up in doing something.

"Need help?"

"No." He shook his head. "Leave."

_What a nice greeting_, she thought.

"Good Morning."

"Yeah, good morning."

"Natsu!" She raised her voice at him, startling the young man, the bowl of batter almost slipping from his hold.

"What?" He hissed, "I'm busy."

"I can make breakfast, clean this up, I'll finish making … whatever you planned on making." She glanced at the 'mess'. The ingredients on the table were too random to figure out what he was making. The batter was for pancakes of course, but that didn't explain why there was an assortment of fruits, a box of raisins, two cartons of milk, a plate of chopped onions and garlic and who knows what other kinds of wasted food on her counter.

"I can do it." He insisted, "Just go somewhere else, your room, the bathroom, I don't know. Just leave."

"Natsu…"

"Lucy."

"Natsu."

"Lucy."

"Natsu."

"Lucy."

'Natsu—"

"For goodness sake, Lucy! Argh!" The male mage slammed down the bowl on the counter and raised his hands furiously in the air. "That's it. No breakfast."

"W-what?" Lucy spluttered, "What?"

"I can't make it. It's too hard." Natsu shook his head. "You can make it through the day without breakfast right?"

"Y…yeah?" At that point, Lucy was confused. There was no point in hiding it. "Why—"

"Okay," Natsu intercepted, taking large strides to her direction, "I'll just go with it." He stopped a few feet from her and looked at Lucy in the eyes. He pulled out a small box from his pocket, his hands gripping the object tightly and knelt down before her.

Lucy gasped.

"I was too busy making breakfast, thinking that it was easy since you made it look easy. So I thought, I'll just think of what to say later on –I'm doing an impromptu speech here, I'm not really prepared, you know how I am. I can't think of anything romantic at the moment, my mind's completely blank and I'm just saying whatever comes into my head and," he paused, taking in a deep breath before continuing.

"What I'm trying to say is, Luce –will you marry me?"

The question left Lucy breathless. It was the burning sensation in her lungs that she realized she wasn't even breathing. Brown eyes stared widely at the young man that knelt before her, his hands holding a small box that contained a small ring, and from the look of it, she knew that all the weeks' worth of jewels he'd saved were already spent.

There was nothing else in Lucy's mind but one word.

"Yes."

_**fin**_


End file.
